1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a data terminal of a network, which is used for selecting information from the network to print it as a hard copy. The present invention also relates to a data printing method for the data terminal.
2. Background Arts
Many kinds of network data terminals, such as a set top box, are getting popular. The set top box is connected to a home TV, so data of any kinds provided through a network may be observed on TV.
To have information provided through the network, the user pays a connection charge or the like to a data provider. A program sending method in an interactive service is suggested in JPA 7-303087, wherein ad data is provided through the network to charge the advertisers for the advertisement, and thereby reduce charges on the users, including the connection charges, according to the amount of ad data. In this way, the charges on the users are cut down as low as possible. In this program sending method, the user can select the service from among those accompanied with different amounts of advertisements. The charge for the service varies depending upon the amount of advertisements. For example, the lower charge is applied to the service with the larger amount of advertisement.
When information retrieved from the network is wanted to be reserved as a hard copy, a printer is connected to the network data terminal or a printer incorporated into the network data terminal is used. In that case, printing ad data along with the selected information, and adjusting the charge in accordance with the printed amount of ad data is advantageous for the sake of reducing the charge on the user. Also the network service provider could get paid for the advertisement.
It is to be noted that JPA 8-256256 and JPA 9-90832 suggest merging an ad image in a selected image when making a copy of the selected image.
Since the ad image is merged with the selected image into a composite image, the quality of the selected image can be damaged by the merge of the ad image. Furthermore, paper consumption increases with the amount of ad image. When the user wants to get a copy of the selected image separately from a copy of the ad image, the user is required to make a complicated operation.